Personal branding and your job search

Hey Buzz readers – Happy Monday!

Hope you had a great weekend. Most of my friends were a bit confused this weekend, since many of us believed it was the weekend to “fall back” for Daylight Savings Time.

We’ve got a guest blogger today – he’s talking about the concept of personal branding – how to present you and your job skills in a focused way to land the job you want.

Dan Schawbel publishes Personal Branding Magazine and blogs at the Personal Branding Blog. He’s also got an upcoming book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, that’s coming out in Spring 2009. Here are Dan’s thoughts, as well as some success stories from some of his clients.

Got a blog? It can help you land a job!

Frustrated with the economy?  Giving up on your job search?  Feel like you’ll never find a job you love?  These questions float around time and time again but no one seems to do anything about it.

Building your personal brand with a blog is nothing out of the ordinary these days, whether you are currently employed or are a job seeker.

By establishing a blog around your passion and subject matter expertise, you are telling the world what type of position you are looking for and therefore, you’ll receive opportunities relevant to that theme.  I landed my current job after building a brand through the creation of a blog, podcast, award and magazine.

Below are two stories of individuals who have become successful by getting their brand name out there.

Success story #1: Dave Knox – Digital Brand Strategist, Corporate Marketing at Procter & Gamble. (Dave blogs at http:// hardknoxlife.com)

Dave says: I started my career with Procter & Gamble in 2003 in our Brand Management/Marketing function working on Secret Deodorant.  Over the next four years, I followed a typical career path with 2 Assistant Brand Manager roles before being promoted to Brand Manager in 2007

My blog, HardKnoxLife, was really meant to be a vehicle of self-expression on how I saw marketing, media and technology intersecting and the transformation it would have on brand building.  It was a topic I had talked in all of my assignments at P&G, and a frequent discussion with people I respected in the industry.

Hard Knox Life is a completely personal site with no tie to P&G but it has allowed me to meet some people that are having a big impact on my network and career.  Most importantly, it keeps my ear to the ground for innovation, hopefully staying a step ahead of the competition but hearing about great ideas first and engaging in the conversation immediately. 

Success story #2: Matt Dickman,Vice President, Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard. (Matt blogs at http://technomarketer.typepad.com)

Matt says: Blogging helped me land my job with the largest PR agency in the world.  I was working in Cleveland, OH at a mid-sized interactive shop and I knew that to become a global thought leader I had to do something.

I have had a blog for around 5 years now, but three of those years were wasted. It wasn’t until about two and a half years ago I woke up in a cold sweat. I had come to an epiphany, I needed to use my blog as a personal branding launch pad, connect like crazy and move to a large global agency.

Late in 2007 I was actively looking for a job. I had a number of leads in major cities, but nothing local. Then someone from Fleishman-Hillard called me and wanted me to interview for a position with a focus on social media.

Frankly, it was a pretty easy process, because they had all read my blog and seen my videos. They understood what skills and knowledge I had, because the blog displayed that knowledge. The opportunities are endless for anyone starting or re-starting a career and a blog may be the launch pad they need to move forward successfully.